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Tell me about Phoenix...

Well, after all of the "I would like to move to" threads I've posted here, I CAN'T believe I'm finally going to move to... Phoenix. Guess I don't hate living in the desert as much as I thought. LOL!

So... Phoenix people... tell me about your horse community!! Anyone have any recommendations for places to board the ponies? (Annie, a mostly retired 18yo tb mare, and her well-behaved "saint-of-a-yearling" filly, the famous Lyric) online places to network, tack stores to check out, places to avoid... (or hey if anyone has any job leads, I'm open for some PMs. I promise I'm about as normal and non-crazy as a horse person can be.) ;-p

Really excited about this. When I visited last weekend, you know what I saw??? Cows, and horses, and farmers and CROPS! Like WHEAT and soybeans in the freakin' desert! Whoa...

Well I will say welcome. It's a pretty "horsey" community. There are many others here who can probably provide you with more valid information with regards to barns and the like. I have my own place and keep all mine at home. It sounds from your description though that you were spending time in the West valley last weekend. Good luck with your move. I took me a while to let the place grow on me; but, after 13+ years here and two kids who have grown up to be desert rats I guess we're more or less use to the place.

I'm guessing if you saw crops you may have either been in the east or west valley? The Phoenix area is fairly broad...so if we knew what area you were looking to move to it would be helpful in terms of recommending boarding facilities. As a general rule a facility with a covered arena will be your best bet if most of your riding is arena work. If your schedule allows for early morning or evening riding it will be much less of an issue. It's an amenity that I just can't live without! There are 2 tack shops in the Phoenix area....Tack Etc. and Greenway Saddlery. I'm not impressed with either shop and do most of my shopping online. There is also a consignment tack shop Tack Solutions although very few bargains are to be found there.

You guys are good! I was in the west Valley. Waddell/Surprise to be exact. I really liked that area, though it seems like it would be a bit of a commute depending on the whole job thing...

I've also heard good things about Cave Creek, but I haven't made it out there to check it out yet. Loved Scottsdale when I accompanied my roommate to the Mayo clinic a few years ago, but I suspect *that's* going to be a bit rich for my pocketbook. ;-)

Right now I'm pretty open to any recommendations of places/things to look into. :-)

LOL, my property borders the Cave Creek Recreation park access but I haul over to Waddell to take lessons. There is another tack consignment shop which imo is a little bit better in their offering if you're into the English disciplines and that is Diva Tack (its a drive though cause it's towards the Mesa area); however, JLR is right the tack shops here for the amount of horse traffic there is, well, when you're from the East Coast you get use to a bit "more".

If you're west (very west!) you may want to contact Heather at Sovereign Farm and see if she's boarding these days, and if she knows of other places in the area.

Do you want a barn with a specific type of discipline, good trails, etc? I know of some cutting types on the west side I can ask about because I don't know their info, Heather has Trakehners and dressage, and I'm sure folks can refer to other various disciplines, too. I even know someone who does mounted shooting if you're interested in that and want a reference!

I actually kind of like some of the neighborhoods I've seen (off Chandler road in my case, so south part of Phoenix, but there are more elsewhere) where there's a community arena and sometimes riding trails, and the homes themselves have horse facilities instead of normal back yards.

I'm down in Tucson, but maybe we'll bump into each other! Welcome to AZ!

Originally Posted by Silverbridge

If you get anything on your Facebook feed about who is going to the Olympics in 2012 or guessing the outcome of Bush v Gore please start threads about those, too.

Back in the day before the developers came Cave Creek was a great horse community. It still is, but due to the squeeze many ranches moved East to the Rio Verde/Scottsdale area. I board out there and can highly recommend it if you are looking for ranches with a bit more open spaces and easy access to the McDowell Mountain Park. I prefer the wide, nicely maintained paths in that park to riding in Cave Creek which tends to be very, very rocky. That's just my personal preference. Another major bonus of the area is that it is cooler by 5-7 degrees in the summer...it may not seem like much but trust me it makes a difference. If you haven't been adequately warned it gets very, very hot here

Rio Verde is a Mecca for reiners so if you want to board at a hunter or dressage ranch the choices are somewhat limited. A rough estimate of what boarding options/prices are at some of the larger ranches with a covered arena: pasture (aka dry lot) runs about $350, mare motels $450 and up and stalls $550 and up. With the spike in hay prices board has gone up quite a bit over the last few years. As with any facility the rates are usually tied to the amenities and services offered. Rates will be a tad less at the smaller, privately owned ranches or those with fewer amenities. I'm not as familiar with the west valley or east valley areas of Chandler, Gilbert or Queen Creek so can't really comment. I think as much as the terrain differs from one area of the valley to the next so do your boarding options. I'm sure no matter what area you move to you will be able to find something that will work.